Date

2003

Author

Yücel, Deniz

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Choline is indispensable for a number of fundamental processes in the body. Besides being the precursor of the acetylcholine, an important neurotransmitter, choline is found in the cell membrane structure combining with fatty acids, phosphate and glycerol. Its deficiency may result in nervous system disorders, fatty acid build up in the liver, along with increased cholesterol levels, high blood pressure and memory loss. Thus, rapid detection methods are required for the determination of choline in biological fluids.In this study a choline oxidase biosensor was constructed for the determination of choline. During construction of the biosensor, glucose oxidase was used as a model enzyme, before choline oxidase used. The Teflon (PTFE) membrane of the oxygen electrode was grafted with 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA, 15%, v/v) in the presence of ferrous ammonium sulphate (FAS, 0.1%, w/v) by gamma irradiation and ethyleneglycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA, 0.15 %, v/v) was used as a crosslinker in a series of membranes. HEMA-grafted membranes were activated with epichlorohydrin or glutaraldehyde to maintain covalent immobilization of enzyme. The enzyme activity was measured with an oxygen electrode unit based on oxygen consumption upon substrate addition. Membranes were characterized in terms of grafting conditions and mechanical properties. Membranes, gamma irradiated in a solution of HEMA (15%) and FAS (0.1%) for 24 h, were found to be suitable for use in the further studies. Mechanical test results revealed that HEMA grafting made Teflon membrane more flexible and the presence of EGDMA made the grafted membrane stiffer. During optimization stage, it was found that the immobilized enzyme amount was not sufficient to obtain enzyme activity. Thus, the membrane preparation stage was modified to obtain thinner membranes. The immobilized glucose oxidase and choline oxidase contents on thin HEMA grafted membranes were determined by Bradford and Lowry methods. The influence of EGDMA presence and the epichlorohydrin activation duration on enzyme activity studies revealed that the membrane should be prepared in the absence of EGDMA and 30 min activation duration is appropriate for epichlorohydrin coupling. The study on the influence of membrane activation procedures revealed that the membranes activated with glutaraldehyde had a higher specific activity than the membranes activated with epichlorohydrin. Upon stretching membrane on the electrode directly rather than placing in the sample unit, the response of the enzyme immobilized sensor improved with high specific activity. The optimum choline oxidase concentration was found to be 2 mg/mL considering the effect of immobilization concentration on enzyme activity. With the choline oxidase biosensor, the linear working range was determined as 0.052-0.348 mM, with a 40 ± 5 uM minimum detection limit. The response of the sensor decreased linearly upon successive measurements.

Subject Keywords

Choline, Grafting, Teflon membrane, Choline oxidase

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/13765

Collections

Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences, Thesis